The Bathurst Bulldogs will have one of their strongest ever representations in a Central West representative outfit with nine players selected in the New South Wales Country Championships squad.

Two-time Thomson Cup winning captain Mel Waterford will again skipper the Blue Bullettes, while the experienced Marita Shoulders, Teagan Miller, Ebony Fenton, Jacinta Windsor and Nicole Schneider will add to their past caps as well.

Three more Bulldogs will make their Country Championships debut in Sarah Colman, Poorsha Mcphillamy and Daisy Morrissey.

On top of that, Matt Waterford will coach the Blue Bullettes and Kate Gullifer will act as manager for the two-day championships to be played at Tamworth's Scully Park.

The familiar combinations they bring to the squad helps as the nature of the Country Championships means teams need to be switched on from the opening match.

"They are late call-ins for injuries and they're really looking forward to the challenge and experience," Mel Waterford said of Bulldogs' newest Blue Bullettes.

"It's a reward for the form they've brought into the season. Poorsha and Sarah, it's only their first year of rugby and they've been getting better every week, and Daisy has been a solid player now for the last two years and it's good to see her get a chance to play.

"We've had a little solid group of players across the clubs together for the last two years, so we do know each other really well and we do know each others' game.

"It really helps having your clubs-mates there too, girls you play with week-in and week-out."

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Central West is one of seven teams who will vie for glory, the hopefuls split into two pools based on their rankings from last year's tournament.

As the current Thomson Cup holders, Central West is in a pool of three alongside Mid North Coast and Central Coast.

"It's a good pool to be in. Mid North Coast was pretty challenging last year, they played really well in the comp and got better each game, and Central Coast, they've been a good, strong team for the last two years," Waterford said.

After going through undefeated in 2019 and not getting the chance to play in 2020 when COVID-19 forced the championships to be cancelled, last year the Blue Bullettes' path to glory was tougher.

As well as that, the outfit which downed Hunter 35-13 in the decider there has been a number of changes too.

"We've got a lot of new faces, so it will be a bit of a challenge again for us to go through, so we're just going to take it each game as it comes," Waterford said.

"I know a lot of teams are probably looking to defeat us, a lot of those teams have really recruited well this year, so they'll be just as strong as us.

"There is pressure and there isn't, it's hard because people move on, there's different pathways, now you've got the professional side playing out of Hunter - it's really hard to know who has what in each team.

"A lot of teams don't pick their squads until very late, so it's hard to know what players you're going to be playing against."

Though last year's vice-captain and player of the tournament Claudia McLaren won't line up as she's now based in Queensland, big ins include Krystal Fyfe and Emily McDonald.

Both have Super W experience with the ACT Brumbies.

Just as the Bathurst Bulldogs are strongly represented, so too are the current Ferguson Cup leaders the Dubbo Kangaroos.

Waterford thinks it's a good mix.

"There's a big representation from Bulldogs and Dubbo Roos, which is a reflection of how strong the two teams have been and how far they've come in the last few years," she said.

"It's definitely good for Central West Rugby to have all these strong players in the competition. There are some girls that have come out of other clubs as well, we've pulled in Maddie [Douglas] from Young, so it's really good to see there's such a great range of players in the zone.

"We're pretty lucky we've had a couple of weekends together, but we're also lucky we've got a few strong combinations going into a rep carnival, it helps with the gelling of the team."

Central West begins its bid for a third consecutive Thomson Cup at 10am on Saturday when playing against Mid North Coast. The clash with Central Coast follows at 4pm.

Should they top their pool, the Blue Bullettes will line up in the decider at 12.30pm on Sunday.

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